The rest of the weekend was spent in complete paranoia. Peter refused to leave the apartment for anything that didn't have to do with Spider-Man. It clearly concerned Aunt May, and Peter had no good excuse to give for it besides, 'My anxiety is acting up.'

'Peter Parker had never had a murder attempt on his life before.' Spider-Man shakily thought as he swung around Manhattan. 'Why would he? He's a completely normal kid. But he wasn't after me for me, was he?'

It was the same song and dance all Saturday night and Sunday. Peter trying to calculate why, oh why this man would be after him, and he came to the same conclusion each time:

'He knows about the sample.'

Spider-Man clenched his jaw. He really, really hated that conclusion.

'But if he wants it so badly, why would he kill me? Wouldn't he want it for some villianish stuff?' Spidey landed on the building across from Avengers Mansion. He stared at it. 'Unless he wants the secret to die. Which begs the question: Why?'

'Also,' He crouched to the ground. 'He clearly seemed to have a bad grudge against my dad. Why? Who is this guy?'

The teenager squinted at the Mansion.

'I should tell the Avengers. They would know what to do, and they'd be able to protect me. Even if Fish-Bowl doesn't know that I'm still alive, it's better to be safe than sorry, right?'

Peter had a sudden urge to chew his fingernails. His thoughts drifted to a memory, dull and fuzzy.

An image of his father, who Peter only remember from pictures alone, asking Peter to promise not to tell anyone. And five year old Peter making that promise.

It made him squeamish. 'But can I break the last promise I made to Dad?'

Spider-Man gulped.

'It doesn't matter.' He stood up. 'Liz is okay. Fish-Bowl thinks I'm dead. Dad's secret is safe. As long as I'm careful, everything should be fine.'

From the distance, he could hear sirens. Spider-Man edged closer to the roof's end.

'I should check in on that.' He thought.

He felt himself relax, as he jumped off the building and swung away from his troubles.

Who would have thought that fighting someone with a loaded weapon could be more therapeutic than sitting around and thinking about your problems? (1)

The following day, Peter was late, per usual. He woke up an entire forty minutes after his alarm went off.

He barely had time to eat breakfast or shower that morning, so instead of his messy, dark hair being manageably messy, it was now cowlicked and slightly knotty. He even managed to forget his glasses, like an idiot.

It was when he was basically running out of his building when he realized that he wasn't going to make it.

Peter's eyes darted his wrist.

'I could get there in half the time if I webbed to school...'

'And when people find out that Spider-Man goes to Midtown High, you'll enjoy the countless interruptions of some idiot trying to attack the school in order to find you!'

The teenager sighed. He had a feeling that that day wasn't going to be a good day.

'I hate being right!'

Peter grunted as he was shoved against a locker. He glanced up at Flash Thompson, who was glaring at him viciously.

"I got a bone to pick with you, Parker." He hissed.

The shorter teenager squirmed uncomfortably. There was a locker hinge digging right into his shoulder blade.

"Liz didn't text me all weekend!" Flash growled. "Mind explaining what went on between you and Liz?"

When Peter didn't answer fast enough, Flash pushed him closer to the lockers. The hinge digged deeper into Peter's shoulder making him hiss in pain.

"Answer me, midget!" The bully demanded.

"Biology finals!" Peter bursted out. "We were studying!"

"You think that I'd ever believe that?!" Flash exclaimed. "Do I look like an idiot to you?!"

Peter searched desperately for a teacher. Someone who was late to class, like he was. Anyone! But it was just him and Flash.

Just him and Flash.

Peter's hands formed into fists.

"Has it occured to you," Peter replied coldly. "That maybe Liz didn't want to talk to you?"

Flash froze. "Excuse me?"

"She's your girlfriend, not your toddler!" Peter snapped. "If she wants some space, than give her some space!"

Flash blinked. His eyes seemed to glaze over, and he thought about that insult. Then, he raised his fist.

Peter was ready for it. Ohhhhh, Peter had been ready for it since he first entered the school system, and had to deal with this dickwad all his life. He just had to wait for Flash to make the first move and-

'With great power,' A voice suddenly whispered to him. 'Comes great responsibility.'

Peter's eyes widened. His spider-sense went off. He relaxed his fist.

"Flash!"

The fist paused.

The two glanced at Liz Allen, who looked very annoyed.

Flash lowered his fist.

"What are you doing out of class?" He demanded.

Liz swallowed. She made a face, like she was forcing a dumbed down expression.

"You weren't there." She said softly. "I just wanted to know where you were."

Flash didn't budge. "I wanted to ask Parker how tutoring was going?"

"Why didn't you ask me?" Liz asked. "You know that I would have told you everything."

The bully huffed. "You weren't answering your phone all weekend."

"My phone fell into the bathtub, Flash." She smiled stupidly.

Flash finally let go of Peter. "Show me."

"Can we do it after school? I don't have it with me right now."

Flash growled. "Fine. But it better actually be broken. If I find out that you were with Parker, than I'll-"

"'Were with'-" Liz's eyes darted to Peter, like it was the first time that she noticed him. Her expression went from stupid to sly. "You think I'd ever hang out with a loser like Parker? You've got to be kidding me, Flash."

Peter blanched. Flash seemed to be thinking that over. He flicked Peter's nose.

"Yeah," Flash grumbled. "A loser."

They walked off together.

Peter thought that that would be the end of it, Liz would pretend like they were never friendly to each other. That would be it. But she surprised him, once again, by glancing at him and mouthing, 'We need to talk.'

The superpowered teenager rubbed his nose as he watched them walk away. He wasn't quite sure if he could think anything about the situation besides, 'Okay?'

No, wait, he had another question.

'What the fu-?"

"Gwen's pissed at you."

"Hm?" It took a minute for Peter to realize that someone was talking to him.

It was Harry.

"Gwen's pissed at you." He whispered, as he frowned at his worksheet. "She said that you keep ignoring her calls."

"Oh." Peter frowned at the vocab words.

Harry studied Peter for a moment. He tapped a sentence on his paper.

"That's not what 'candid' means."

"What?"

"You got that wrong."

"Oh. Thanks, man."

"No prob."

And they kind of left it at that. It was something Peter liked about Harry, he didn't push Peter to talk about stuff.

The pair waited a moment before Peter asked him how his weekend was.

Harry stiffened. He stared hard at his paper.

"Dad asked me about you."

Peter chewed his pencil. "He shouldn't be focused on me. I'm not his kid."

"Yeah, well, he clearly wants you to be." Harry muttered.

The shorter teenager glanced at his friend, completely sympathetic. He patted Harry's shoulder, who immediately winced.

Peter froze.

"Is he still home?" He whispered.

Harry shook his head. He was staring very sternly at his paper, his eyes clearly watering.

"Want to stay over?" Peter mumbled.

Harry immediately nodded.

"Osborn! Parker!" Their teacher called out. "Am I going to have to separate the two of you?"

The pair exchanged looks, and shook their heads.

"Than be quiet!"

"Sorry, ma'am!" Peter replied.

"Sorry." Harry muttered.

"You sure it's okay if I stay over?" Harry asked as the pair walked to Peter's locker.

"Yeah, I cleared it up with my aunt." Peter shifted uncomfortably. "I feel bad. Inviting you, but not Eddie."

Harry glanced at him, then shrugged. "Eddie's a big boy. Plus, you were pretty busy last weekend. Just ask if he wants to stay over this week."

"Good idea-"

Suddenly, a door to an empty classroom burst open and a hand grabbed Peter's shoulder. He was immediately yanked in.

"Pete!?" Harry yelped.

When Peter glanced around, he was surprised to see Liz.

"Oh, hey!" He exclaimed.

Liz eyed Harry, who rushed into the classroom after them.

"Er…Is this about tutoring?" Peter asked.

"You know what this is about, Peter." Liz replied. "Look, I don't have a lot of time, Flash is waiting for me, so…"

She eyed Harry again. When she realized that he wasn't going to leave, she sighed.

"Tell me about what happened on Saturday." She said. "Who was that man? Why did he know your dad?"

Peter stiffened.

Harry frowned. "What man?"

"It was nothing." Peter lied poorly.

Liz glared at him. "Isn't this guy one of your best friends, or something?"

"Well…yeah…."

"Okay, than I'm telling him what happened."

"Liz, no!"

"What happened?" Harry looked alarmed.

"It doesn't matter!" Peter exclaimed lamely.

"It doesn't matter that someone tried to kill you?"

"I-"

A large hand landed on Peter's shoulder. Peter glanced at his friend, who had gone completely pale.

"Peter." Harry muttered sternly. "What happened? What aren't you telling me?"

Peter stiffened. He rubbed his face. "This isn't…This doesn't concern you! Niether of you!"

Liz crossed her arms. "'Scuse me? Not only was I a witness to what happened, I saved your sorry butt. So, you better give me a good explanation about what happened, or I'm going to go to the police!"

The teenager stiffened. He glanced nervously from his best friend to the popular girl.

"I-I-" He sighed. "Look, what I say, it can't leave this room."

Harry and Liz exchanged looks.

"Alright." Harry said.

Liz crossed her arms. "Fine."

Peter glanced around nervously. He decided that the best place to stare at while he explained was the window.

"My….my dad." Peter started. "He...he was a biologist. In…like…a lot of fields."

Harry nodded. "He worked at Oscorp at some point."

"Yeah." Peter replied. He swayed nervously. "Look, I don't know everything that's going on. In fact, I barely know the bare minimum. But from what I understand, this guy knew my dad for some reason. That's basically it."

Liz frowned. "Okay, than. Why are you so afraid of going to the police, then?"

"I'm not afraid!"

"You are literally shaking right now."

Peter glanced down at his hands. Sure enough, they were shaking.

"Because," He tucked them in his pocket. He wasn't sure how he could explain this without revealing too much. Especially since his explanation was pretty ridiculous.

He didn't want anyone to know the truth, not only because he wanted to keep the sample out of anyone's hands, but also because it was the last promise he made to his dad.

It was...stupid not to go to the police, especially since his life was on the line. But...It wasn't just that. Peter could take care of himself. He was Spider-Man, after all. But he wanted to figure this out, this mystery that was Richard Parker. And he didn't want police interference. No, he wanted and needed to do it himself.

A part of him knew that it was stupid. That he should let the police do their job. But hey, as Spider-Man, wasn't he already doing police work, in a way, albeit, vigilantism?

"Because, this is my dad that we're talking about," Peter replied slowly. "And I...I need to find out what happened. Who this guy was, what did my dad did to make him hate him so much? Stuff like that…."

"The police can help you with that." Liz replied dryly.

"No, they're going to say that I'm a stupid kid who has no business interferring with police business!"

"Probably because you are a stupid kid with no business interferring with police business!"

"Uh...Pete?" Harry interrupted.

The two glanced at him.

Harry shifted awkwardly. "I...Your dad worked at Oscorp. So...I could help you. Look into stuff, I mean."

Peter stiffened. "I...I can't ask you to do that, Harry."

The taller boy shrugged. "You're my friend, Peter. What are friends for?"

Liz shook her head slowly. A thought seemed to occur to her.

"Can I talk to Peter alone, for a second?" Liz asked Harry.

Harry frowned.

The shorter teen tucked his hands in his pockets. "It's okay, Harry. I need to talk to Liz about something."

He eyed them warily, before nodding. The pair didn't speak, until the door was closed.

Liz turned to Peter, a weird expression on her face. She studied Peter for a moment.

"You knew that that man was following us." She said slowly. "That's why you were acting so funny."

Peter immediately stiffened. "No I didn't."

Liz opened her mouth to reply. Another thought seemed to occur to her. She closed it.

"I'm helping."

"What?"

"I want to help figure out what happened with your dad."

Peter immediately shook his head. "No. Liz, no! Absolutely not! I can't let you-"

"Be involved?" Liz raised an eyebrow. "I think we moved past the 'Don't be involved part' the second I decided to follow that orb thingy. Besides, this'll be payback for tutoring."

The two stared at each other for a moment.

Finally, Peter looked away.

"Flash…." He muttered.

Liz stiffened. "Right. I need to go-"

"He was treating you really weird." Peter continued. "Does he always...act like that around you?"

Liz stiffened. She glared at Peter. "I'm not talking about this."

"Wait, Liz-"

"I've got a handle on the situation. Stop worrying about it." Liz huffed, and began to sashay away. "We'll have a meeting/tutoring session tomorrow night or something."

"I have work." Peter muttered.

"Than we'll do it after you work." Liz replied.

"Wait...Uh...Liz?" Peter reached out to touch her shoulder. Then he quickly put it down. "I...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you about that."

"About what?" She narrowed her eyes.

Peter swayed nervously.

Liz sighed. "Whatever, Peter. Just don't talk about it again."

And she walked off.

Peter stared at the door for a moment.

That felt like a confirmation, in his mind, that Liz and Flash weren't in a healthy relationship. He couldn't know for sure, of course, and he definitely couldn't say anything about it to her. Afterall, he didn't know her well enough to comment on it. And to be perfectly honest, Peter probably shouldn't have said anything at all.

He just...he never knew how to respond to those types of situations. He really wanted to do something, but he wasn't quite sure what, exactly….

"Peter?" Harry entered the room. "You ready?"

Peter glanced at his friend. "Yeah, sorry. Just thinking."

He followed his friend out of the classroom, and they walked silently to his locker. After he got all of his stuff, the pair walked to the subway in silence.

It was halfway to their stop, when Harry turned to Peter, and said, "You know, you should really go call Gwen, right?"

Peter sighed. "I know! I will!"

The author does not advocate for fighting people with loaded weapons in order to deal with problems. In fact, she does not advocate for fighting people at all, let alone fighting people with dangerous weapons. Please consult a therapist if you are struggling with anything.